Gazi Murat Şen

Pamukkale, a magnet for travelers with nearly 2.5 million visitors this year, is poised to end the year with its accommodations fully booked, marking a remarkable conclusion to a thriving season.

Some 18,500 visitors flocked to Pamukkale and the ancient city of Hierapolis on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, setting a new one-day visitor record at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the western province of Denizli.

The figure on April 11 surpassed the previous record of 16,500 visitors in a single day, set back in 2019 for the region known as "white paradise."

In the first seven months of 2023, nearly 1.15 million people have visited the tourism hotspot Pamukkale, marking a 23 percent rise compared to the same period last year.

Some 477,757 people have visited Cappadocia, the historical region in Central Anatolia famous for its fairy chimneys, in May this year, a number nearly eight times higher than the same month the previous year, the Governor's Office of the province of Nevşehir has announced.

"In May 2021, the number of the visitors was 61,634," said the office in a statement on June 7.

Pamukkale, a natural landmark tourist attraction in the southwestern province of Denizli, hosted a total of 625,000 visitors in 2020, falling short of meeting the target of welcoming 3 million sightseers initially set for the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, a record 2.6 million people visited the tourist hotspot.

Pamukkale, a natural landmark tourist attraction in southwestern Turkey hopes to attract some 1 million tourists over
the next six months after normalizing from the effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Pamukkale is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its mineral-rich thermal waters and white travertine terraces in Turkey's province of Denizli.